In the agricultural industry, research is continuously being conducted in order to improve the quality of the food produced and the productivity of the food producer or farmer. The production of corn is no exception, and there have been developed over the years methods and techniques for increasing the productivity of the farmer so that the farmer can produce higher yields. See Poehlman, John Milton: "Breeding Field Crops" Henry Holt & Company, Inc., 1959, pp. 241-277. Crops such as corn can be planted in higher densities to increase the farmer's per acre yield. However, there are obvious practical limits on such high density crop production. Moreover, crops such as corn which are planted in high density fields are more subject to stress from weather and more susceptible to disease. There have been developed breeding techniques for corn production, some of which have improved the farmer's yield. Examples of such breeding techniques are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,753,663 entitled "Production of Hybrid Seed Corn", U.S. Pat. No. 3,710,511 entitled "Procedures for Use of Genic Male Sterility and Production of Commercial Hybrid Maize", and in U.S. Pat. No. 4,051,629 entitled "Hybrid Seed Production".
The methods and techniques described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,753,663 were extensively used commercially and were quite successful until it was learned that the corn plants produced using such methods and techniques were susceptible to corn blight which could in a single season substantially destroy a farmer's crop. There is therefore a need for breeding and production techniques which will produce yield increases without affecting the quality of the corn produced or without rendering the corn more susceptible to the stresses of weather and disease.
In 1976, C. L. Prior and W. A. Russell published the results of their studies comparing the yields of first and second ears where pollination was prevented on one of the ears. Russell, W. A. and Prior, C. L., Crop Science, Vol. 16, No. 2, March-April 1976. "Effect of Non Pollination of First or Second Ears of Non Prolific and Prolific Maize Hybrids". Their results show that the second ear yields less than the first ear. These studies were, however, concerned only with one generation of seed. The method of the invention goes into another generation--the grow-out of the seed produced from the top ear and the lower ear. It is therefore the principal object of the invention to increase the farmer's yield substantially by use of a seed corn produced according to a method and technique that is not only novel but contrary to the teachings of the prior art.